Method and apparatus for optimizing a production process

A method for optimizing a production process having a plurality of production steps, the process comprising a plurality of consumers, predefined for producing a product in a production plant, in particular in a beverage factory, comprising the steps of (i) time-dependent detection of energy and / or consumption of media to consumers over a reference period for generating corresponding consumption profiles for each of the energy and / or consumption of media of consumers; (Ii) creating a time-dependent consumption profile of the energy and / or media consumption over the predefined reference period from the consumption profiles of step (i), in particular by summing the profiles; and optimizing the consumption profile of step (ii) with respect to each of the energy and / or media consumption with respect to a reduced peak load and / or a lower consumption.